Talks between Wayne State medical school and Henry Ford going on nearly two years

Charles Parrish

The faculty union at Wayne State University has asked President M. Roy Wilson, M.D., for documents and information related to affiliation talks the university has been having since 2016 with Henry Ford Health System.

Crain's reported in late May that top officials with Wayne State University School of Medicine and Henry Ford have been engaged in talks for nearly two years to merge medical groups, expand research and education, and possibly construct new health buildings.

"The secret merger negotiations between Wayne State University and the Henry Ford Health System made it clear that the merger of the WSU School of Medicine and the Henry Ford Health System would have profound effects on the terms of employment of the members of the bargaining unit that our union represents," Charles Parrish, president of the AAUP-AFT Local 6075, said in a July 10 letter to Wilson.

"Until now, the secret nature of these negotiations meant that the union leadership were unaware of the extent to which organizational changes were being contemplated that would have dramatic effects on these terms of employment," said Parrish, a political science professor at Wayne State.

Wayne State officials confirmed they received the faculty union letter and are reviewing it with attorneys, said Phil Van Hulle, a spokesman with the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The union, which cited terms of the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act of 1947, requested that Wayne State submit "all documents relevant to the proposed merger" of the Wayne State and Wayne State medical groups.

Parrish also asked Wilson and Wayne State administration to immediately begin negotiations with the union to address potential changes in faculty employment if a deal is reached with Henry Ford.

"We are concerned about academic governance, promotion and tenure," Parrish said. "I don't see how it would work (leadership and staffing of clinical departments in a merged medical group) with half the members with Henry Ford and half members with the bargaining unit."

If the Henry Ford and Wayne State medical groups are merged, Parrish said, the union is concerned that not all doctors in Wayne State's University Physician Group will be offered positions in the new medical group.

"What they would do is reconstitute the new department with no guarantee for compensation," Parrish said. "(Dozens of Wayne doctors) signed an employment contract (with UPG) and they can be fired with 60-day notice. We are concerned that would happen if UPG merged" with the 1,200-physician Henry Ford Medical Group.

Under one merger scenario, Parrish said, all UPG doctors could be fired and then some or all would be rehired by the Henry Ford Medical Group. "There is nothing in the contract to protect members in a merger," he said.

Crain's original story on the Henry Ford-Wayne State talks was based on hundreds of pages of documents released after a Freedom of Information Act request. However, none of the documents related to current affiliation talks proposed that the medical school would merge with Henry Ford. The two organizations are talking about merging medical groups.

Wayne State documents did show back in 2014 that Henry Ford and the medical school considered an overall merger. The proposed name of the new medical school would have been the Henry Ford Medical School at Wayne State University. Those talks ended without any agreement.

The current affiliation talks also could result in Wayne State creating a new academic pediatric department that would be part of the Henry Ford Medical Group.

Parrish said the faculty union is not trying to scuttle the talks between Henry Ford and Wayne State. He said the union could support a Wayne State-Henry Ford affiliation.

"It makes a lot of sense having Henry Ford and Wayne State as a joint enterprise," he said. "But the problem is I don't know what it is. How can I support something that I don't know?"